Since burial costs are still rising, even a $10,000 burial insurance policy purchased today may not pay the entire funeral bill when the time comes. In order to pay the price you may have to use funds from your major life insurance policy. Dean Lambert, the director of marketing for Homesteaders Life Co, says that this trend is becoming more frequent. “When that lump sum goes to the family, they will spend it on whatever they have to. They shouldn’t have to spend it all on the funeral, but that might be the case. If they are grieving, they may not make the most informed choices, perhaps spending more than they should”.

If you take a step back and look at the industry as a whole you will see why the preneed industry is not feeling the effects of the recession. Americans are getting older, the baby boomers are nearing the end of their lives and therefore there is a great demand for funeral related products and services. If you couple this with the fact that prices continue to increase for these goods and services, you can see how easy the industry has it. President of the Life Insurers Council, Bruce Dalzell, says, “More senior citizens have the money today for these expenses, and they are independent. They don’t want to leave this burden on their loved ones”.

An individual’s preferences play a huge role when determining coverage options. Burial insurance is very personal; there is no “one size fits all” option. Instead, you pick and choose the goods and services that you see fit. This leaves the choice up to you and not an insurance agent or funeral director. They are taken out of the decision making process and are just there to write up a policy that covers the things that you want.

Some of the common products and services available for purchase are:

• Grave marker
• Flowers
• The plot
• A casket or urn
• Embalming (not required by law unless there is a public viewing)
• Cremation
• Hearse and other burial vehicles
• Burial vault or grave liner
• Digging and filling the grave
  
  

In the next article in the series we will discuss a checklist that you need to go through before buying burial life insurance.

Related posts:

1. Burial Insurance For Seniors: Part 1
2. Final Expense Insurance: 8 Most Frequently Asked Questions